Smoking tobacco is addictive. Thus, it is difficult for those persons who have acquired the habit to stop. It has long been recognized that the chances for actually stopping smoking can be enhanced by tapering off the number of cigarettes or cigars or pipe fills smoked per day over a period of time. The theory holds that when one has reduced his or her consumption to only a few smokes per day, it becomes possible to quit without an overwhelming compulsion to continue.
Prior inventors have devised a variety of timer-controlled devices to assist the addicted smoker in tapering off. And, there seem to be two schools of thought as how these devices should interact with the smoker. One school holds that tobacco should be always available to the smoker with the timer mechanism merely indicating the time period during which one or more smokes are permitted. The other school firmly believes that the smoker should be physically deprived of tobacco for predetermined periods of time.
Examples of the "always available" technique can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,424,123, granted Jan. 28, 1969, to J. A. Gifford for "Stop-Smoking Case" and 4,311,448, granted Jan. 19, 1982, to E. Strauss for "Smoking Elimination Guidance System". The Gifford case houses cigarettes and a timer-controlled bell which alerts the smoker that it is time to have another cigarette. Strauss provides a much more elaborate system which first measures the number of smoking events per day indulged by the smoker, and thereafter computes a gradual increase over time of the time periods during which a smoking event is to be permitted. Under the Strauss system, the smoker is actually free to smoke any time he or she wishes. Both Gifford and Strauss extol the virtues of the "always available" technique and demean systems in which the smoker is denied access to tobacco for various periods of time.
The "physical deprivation" school has been much more popular with inventors in this country. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,016,534, granted Oct. 8, 1935, to W. V. Blackwell, et. al. for "Cigarette Case" and No. 2,681,560, granted Jun. 22, 1954, to V. C. Shuttleworth, et. al. for "Cigarette Case Having a Timer-Controlled Locking Means" both disclose cigarette cases with a timer controlling the opening of access means on the case. Both inventors provide mechanisms for changing the length of the time period during which the access means are locked closed.
W. O. Kinnebrew in his U.S. Pat. No. 2,812,851, granted Nov. 12, 1957, for "Time-Controlled Cigarette Case" suggests providing multiple, open-ended compartments for storing individual cigarettes. He provides a sliding closure member over the open ends of the compartments and slowly withdraws the closure member with a clockwork to expose individual cigarettes at timed intervals. The clockwork has an adjustment to permit the length of the intervals to be changed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,206,957, granted Sep. 21, 1965, to J. Reitzes for "Cigarette Case" discloses a case equipped with a hand-wound timer, much like a cooking timer, to control movement of a member which blocks an egress opening in the case.
A lighter having a time lock thereon for disabling the lighter for set periods of time is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,953, granted Jul. 10, 1973, to H. C. Herr for "Cigarette Lighter with Time Lock".
Notwithstanding the efforts of these prior inventors, there continues to be a need for a reliable apparatus and a system for time controlled dispensing of cigarettes which are user-friendly and interact with the smoker to assist him or her in stopping smoking.